WHEN the old timber building
which for many years had housed the Sabah Forest Depart- ment's herbarium was destroyed in a disastrous fire. nearly all of the timber and other botanical speci- mens accumulated over the years were also lost.
While the Forest Botanist and the Ecologist set to work to collect new specimens and make good as far as possible the losses from the fire, the Architects Branch of the Sabah Public Works Department. under the Director of Public Works. Mr. L. Jackson. B. Eng., M.I.C.E., com- menced the design of the new. per- manent Forest Herbarium, together with an extension of the Forest Department Headquarters office.
On a restricted. levelled hill site. overlooking Sandakan harbour and immediately above the town, the herbarium building is designed on normal pad foundations with a tein- forced concrete frame and brick infill panels. To fit the site and the requirements of the client de- partment. the P.W.D. architects de- cided to design the herbarium build- ing to a split level floor pattern, with laboratory and herbarium on the top floors and offices, stores, packing rooms, etc., below. The office exten- sion block is a straightforward, two- storey office building attached to the original building at right angles.
The flat roof of the herbarium building is constructed of hollow concrete blocks which were fabricat- ed on site, covered with the normal bituminous layers. The office exten- sion building has a corrugated as-
OPEN
AREA
UPPER
PART OF STORE
OFFICE
OFFICE
OFFICE
FIRST FLOOR
SCALE:
FEET
16-0
20-0
STORE
DRYING
AREA
GROUND
SCALE:
• #tat
FLOOR
OPEN AREA
A.C. UNIT
CROSS
SECTION
BI
HERBARIUM
THROUGH
FOREST
STORE
SCALE
HERBARIUM
THE HONG KONG & FAR EAST BUILDER-VOLUME 18, NUMBER 6
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